Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and
Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS) Year 2025 Peer-reviewed
Blockchain Security · DeFi

Towards a Formal Foundation for Blockchain Rollups

Stefanos Chaliasos Denis Firsov Benjamin Livshits
2025
Publication year
CCS
Venue
Peer-reviewed
Type

Problem

Abstract Blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum have revolutionized digital transactions, yet scalability issues persist. Layer 2 solutions, such as validity proof Rollups (ZK-Rollups), aim to address these challenges by processing transactions off-chain and validating them on the main chain.

Approach

However, concerns remain about security and censor- ship resistance, particularly regarding centralized control in Layer 2 and inadequate mechanisms for enforcing these properties through Layer 1 smart contracts. In their current form, L2s are susceptible to multisig attacks that can lead to total user funds loss.

Results

This work presents a formal analysis using the Alloy specification language to examine and design key Layer 2 functionalities, including forced transaction queues, safe blacklisting, and upgradeability. Through this analysis, we identify pitfalls in existing designs and introduce an enhanced model that has been model-checked to be correct. Finally, we propose a complete end-to-end methodology to ana- lyze rollups’ security and censorship resistance based on manually translating Alloy properties to property-based testing invariants, setting new standards. CCS Concepts • Security and privacy →Formal security models; Security requirements; Domain-specific security and privacy architectures.

Cite this paper — BibTeX
@InProceedings{chaliasos25rollups,
  title = "Towards a Formal Foundation for Blockchain Rollups",
  author = "Stefanos Chaliasos and Denis Firsov and Benjamin Livshits",
  year = "2025",
  month = oct,
  booktitle = "Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS)",
}
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